The present invention generally relates to an electronic card connector, and in particular to an electronic card connector having an improved assembly.
An electronic card in a cellular phone is typically used for billing and security. The electronic card may also be used for storing operational data such as a phone book and/or quick dial numbers. An electronic card connector is adapted to connect an electronic card with a cellular phone, so that processing units in the phone can access information stored in the electronic card. A conventional electronic card connector generally includes a dielectric housing and a plurality of conductive contacts assembled with the housing by insert molding.
However, a problem of such structures is that if the housing is deformed, the structure of the contacts will be affected. For example, when the electronic card connector is mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB) by surface mounting technology (SMT), the housing is heated and deformed, which brings about unreliable soldering between the contacts and the PCB. Furthermore, if the arrangement and/or the number of the contacts is adjusted by a designer, the whole electronic card connector must be remade, which increases the manufacturing cost of the connector.
Hence, an electronic card connector with an improved assembly is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
A main object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide an electronic card connector having a reliable assembly of a housing and a plurality of contacts.
Another object is to provide an electronic card connector having an improved assembly to decrease the manufacturing cost of the connector.
An electronic card connector according to the present invention for electrically connecting an electronic card to a printed circuit board (PCB) includes a dielectric housing including a bottom wall, a contact module having a dielectric base receiving a plurality of conductive contacts and a pair of eaves protruding laterally from two opposite sides of the base.
A through opening is defined in the bottom wall and a pair of holding steps protrude inwardly from two opposite sides of the opening. The contact module is embedded in the opening of the housing, the two eaves respectively supported on the pair of holding steps and the base falling into the opening. The contact module is separated from the housing and assembled with the housing afterwardly, so the structure of the contacts are not affected by the housing. Furthermore, just remaking the contact module could adapt the connector for a different electronic card, instead of remaking the whole connector